Splitting Hairs
by clagjanet
Summary: We know Amanda King, domestic goddess, but Lee is curious: what did Amanda West do in the summer of 1969? Set directly after the end of S3.


The disclaimer: none of these characters belong to me; they belong to Shoot the Moon Enterprises and Warner Bros to whom I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to take them out for a spin and a bit of light humour.

This story is in response to Khell's song-prompt writing challenge to write a story about what a character was doing in the "Summer of '69".

* * *

They were walking down the boardwalk in Virginia Beach, hand in hand. There was familiarity in that, but today it was different; today was the first time they'd managed to sneak away for a whole day together since they'd finally stepped off the cliff of acknowledging their partnership was something more. Today they'd escaped the gaze of mothers, bosses, co-workers – everyone they knew in fact and could walk along enjoying a sunny day, without worrying. Today they could just be content to be together, sometimes talking, sometimes just turning to look at each other with giddy smiles, but never letting go of each other's hand, unless it was to move closer to slide an arm around each other's waist. Today was… perfect.

Amanda couldn't help looking down at the way Lee's longer fingers were wrapped comfortingly around hers, fingers twined through hers. She smiled quietly thinking how right it looked. As if he'd been reading her mind – and maybe he was – Lee suddenly squeezed her hand until she looked up to meet his grin and bright eyes. He stopped, tugging her near as he leaned back against the handrail of the boardwalk and lifting her hand and turning it over to kiss the palm gently before letting go so that he could pull her closer to kiss her lips. They stood cuddling for a moment, her hands on his chest, his resting loosely on her hips, finally breaking off the kiss to stand quietly, foreheads touching, pulses racing.

"Having a good day?" Lee asked in a teasing tone, eliciting a husky chuckle from his partner.

"The best. Are you?"

"The very best," he answered contentedly. He shifted to kiss the tip of her nose – her _very_ cute nose, he thought – then shifted lower again to kiss her again.

By the time they separated again with identical happy sighs, Amanda's hands were wrapped around his neck and they were standing close enough to be getting scandalized looks from some of the older people walking by. Amanda ignored them, snuggling in to rest her cheek against his shoulder, her breath warm against his neck, while he rested his against her hair.

"You know, when you said you wanted to get to know me better, this isn't quite what I pictured," she murmured, the smile evident in her voice even though he couldn't see her face.

"Disappointed?" he asked, lightly.

"Not even a little bit," she chuckled, feeling his arms tighten around her as he laughed too.

With nowhere to go – and nowhere else they'd rather be – neither of them felt the slightest need to move for several minutes, standing in the sunshine, the ocean breeze keeping them cooler than they should have been standing so close together. It took a few moments for Amanda to realize that Lee was humming along absently with the song playing on the loudspeaker at a nearby store.

"You like that song?" she asked, lifting her head to look at him.

"I do," he answered. "What? Don't you?"

"No, I do – I just didn't think it was your type of thing."

Lee shrugged. "It's catchy, what can I say?" He grinned suddenly and added "And it reminds me of my misspent youth."

"Oh really? Do tell," she looked up at him, eyes sparkling. "Were you in a band?"

Lee laughed outright at the image. "Oh no, but I did have a battered old guitar and a repertoire of songs to woo pretty girls with."

"You play guitar?" she prodded him.

"Amanda! You've seen me play guitar! I spent an entire morning busking in Trafalgar Square, not ten feet away from you!"

She wrinkled her nose and pretended she was trying to remember. "Oh did you actually play? I was distracted by that terrible fake beard you were wearing that day."

"I actually played and you actually tapped your foot along with it, as I recall," he admonished her but with a smile in his voice he couldn't quite disguise.

"Did I?" she said doubtfully. "Well, your ego in those days _was_ so much more fragile than now – I was probably humoring you."

"You might have been," he agreed, laughing. "But I got £20 in my guitar case that day that says other people weren't."

"Aww, is your ego still so fragile that you remember how much you got?"

He leaned down to nip her ear gently. "No, but I know I spent it on that Wedgewood tea cup I gave you for Christmas that year and that you still use it."

She pulled back to look at him properly, her smile lighting up her face. "Did you really? That's so sweet!"

He managed to look pleased and embarrassed at the same time. "Well, I was up against the seductive techniques of Connie Barnhill after all. It was a tough competition, him being so in love with you and me being such a jerk."

Amanda choked with laughter and leaned up to give him a quick peck on the lips. "You really were," she agreed. "But you could play a mean Bob Dylan as I recall."

"Ah ha! I knew you were listening!" he crowed.

"Of course I was listening," she said. "It showed a whole new side of you I didn't know about. You were still a bit of a closed book in those days, remember."

"And I'm such an open book now," he agreed. "But I'm supposed to be learning about you, so how about it? What were you doing in the summer of '69? Were they the best days of your life?"

Amanda chuckled and paused to think, then suddenly gurgled with laughter, a blush rising in her cheeks as the memories struck her. "I'll plead the Fifth, I think," she said in her most demure tone.

"Oh no no, I don't think so!" Lee chuckled. "I want to know what put that guilty expression on your face just now!"

"I'm not guilty!" she answered hotly, squirming slightly in his arms. "It's just, well, it's embarrassing is what it is, but in my defense, I was very young and foolish and it seemed like a great idea at the time!"

She could have gotten lost in the dimples that were creasing his cheeks now.

"Spill," he ordered with a grin. "What does a nineteen-year old Amanda West do that seems like 'a great idea at the time'?"

Amanda sighed and began playing absently with the top button of his shirt, looking up at the sound of Lee's deep chuckle.

"If you're going to try and distract me by undressing me, we should probably take this somewhere less public," he murmured in a seductive tone that made her shiver. She met his bright laughing eyes with a slightly wicked smile.

"Well, funny you should say that, because it does involve a certain lack of clothing," she admitted.

"Okay, now I'm hooked," he said. "Tell me the whole sordid story."

"Oh it's hardly sordid, Lee," she reprimanded him. "I mean, hundreds of people saw the whole thing."

"Did you go streaking?" he laughed, eyes wide with anticipation.

"In a manner of speaking, yes I did."

"Okay, hit me and don't leave out any details – I need to decide if it's going to go in your Agency file."

Amanda slapped him lightly on the chest, chuckling. "Okay, so you know how I did those drama courses at UVA?"

"Amanda, it was only last week that you told me that! Of course I remember!"

"Okay, well there wasn't just the course where we covered Tony Martinet, there was also a musical theatre portion."

Lee was entranced, watching the play of emotion on her face and the way her eyes sparkled while she told the story.

"And at the end of the year, our prof approached some of us and asked if we'd like to earn some extra credit and a little extra money."

"19-year old girls, extra credit and money, hundreds of people and no clothes? I don't think I like where this story is going all of a sudden," he growled.

"Lee!" she gurgled. "Get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Hey, you started me down that slope with this clothing-optional story!" he defended himself.

Amanda raised an eyebrow and tried to look stern. "Now look, do you want to actually hear the story or not?"

Lee made a zipping motion across his mouth and settled his hands back on her hips.

"Okay, well Professor Davis had a friend who was involved with a show on Broadway and because it was summer, there were a lot of people in the chorus that wanted to have some vacation time, so this friend got permission to let a few college students fill in the gaps as part of a sort of internship kind of thing. I mean, it was great for the kids who really wanted to do it for a living, because it gave them experience they could list to get an Equity card, but for the rest of us, it was just an adventure."

"You've lost me," Lee said. "How is it embarrassing to be in a play on Broadway?"

"Well it wasn't the being on Broadway that's embarrassing, it was the show." Amanda paused and watched Lee frowning slightly as he tried to puzzle out what she meant, laughing out loud when she saw him finally figure it out.

"Wait a minute… 1969… _Hair_? You were in _Hair_?" he yelped, looking stunned when she nodded. "You – Amanda King, housewife and mother – you were in the chorus of Hair on Broadway dancing around in front of hundreds of people _naked_?"

"Lee, lower your voice! And okay, well for starters, I wasn't a housewife or a mother at the time," she scolded him. "And yes, I was. For two weeks anyway. Then I went back home and picked up a regular summer job working at the A&P like a normal person."

"But for two weeks you were naked on stage?" Lee seemed to be having more than the usual amount of difficulty processing this.

"We preferred to say 'nude'," she said loftily. "And I was told I was very good, thank you very much!"

Lee's gaze travelled down her body and he licked his lips unconsciously. "I'm sure you were."

Amanda's blush got deeper and she lowered her eyes, dark lashes fluttering against her cheeks. "I knew I shouldn't have told you that story," she muttered.

"Oh, I think that's exactly the kind of story you should tell me," he teased. "I'm seeing a whole new side of you."

"Well if you'd been in New York in May of 1969, you would have literally seen a whole new side of me," she retorted, looking confused when Lee suddenly straightened up and stared at her.

"Wait a second. You were in 'Hair' in _May_? May _1969_?"

"Yeesss," she answered, uncertain what he was getting at. "Why?"

"Because I _was_ in New York that summer and I _did_ see 'Hair'!" he said with rising excitement. "Early May or late May?"

""Early?" she answered, really not enjoying the turn this had taken.

"Me too!" Lee was looking more and more enthused. He pushed her away slightly and looked her up and down, squinting slightly. "Wait a second… I think I remember you."

"You do not!" she contradicted him. "You're just trying to pull my leg!"

"No really!" he said. "Me and my friend Fred – not Fielder, different Fred – we got second row seats so we could check out the naked girls and I'm sure I remember you. You had your hair in one of those, you know…" he reached out and fluffed her hair.

"Ponytail?" she asked, her stomach starting to turn just slightly at the idea that he might not actually be kidding.

"Yeah! A ponytail! And flowers, right?" he paused and stared off over her shoulder as if he was trying to remember something. "And you were waving around this flowy thing with ribbons."

"You can't possibly remember me!" Amanda said in a panicky tone. "I was just one girl in the chorus. I wasn't special!"

Lee looked at her with a considering expression. "I don't know," he said doubtfully. "I sure remember a cute girl that looked like you. Same dark hair, same dark eyes and uhhh," he trailed off as if he was thinking of something he shouldn't have.

"What?" she said with narrowed eyes.

"Well, uhhh, do you have a birthmark? Um, kind of around here?" He waved a hand near the back of her upper thigh.

He watched her eyes go wide and the blush got even deeper. "Oh my gosh," she groaned. "I don't believe this." She pulled out of his arms and stumbled away down the boardwalk.

Lee rushed to catch up with her, snaking his arm around her waist as he fell into step beside her. "Amanda! I said you were cute! And you said hundreds of people saw you in that show! I mean, you must have known at least one of them!"

She could feel him shaking with laughter and it certainly didn't make her feel any less embarrassed. "Well, maybe I did, but I didn't know I knew them," she said wretchedly. "And it's one thing to be naked in front of strangers when you're just one of a bunch of naked people but to think someone you know saw you…" She groaned again and dropped her face in her hands.

"Well, you didn't know me then," he said reasonably. "And besides, you weren't naked, you were nude. There's a difference."

"Stop laughing at me!" She was torn between hysteria and mortification herself – she didn't know why she thought he'd stop laughing.

Lee stopped and turned her to face him, leaning down to say in a low voice so they couldn't be overheard. "Would it make you feel better if we went somewhere and you could see me nude so we'd be even?"

"Lee!" she shrieked, knowing she was rising to the bait but unable to stop herself. "We've only been, um…"

"Getting to know each other better," he supplied, lips twitching.

" _Dating_ for less than a week! No, it would not make me feel better to see you…" she dropped her voice and hissed the last word "Naked."

Lee pretended to clutch his heart. "Wait, you get to be nude and I'm just relegated to naked?" He began to laugh again at her outraged expression, tapping her on the nose and then sliding his arm back around her waist, setting back off down the boardwalk, lips pressed together. "Your loss. I've been told I'm quite bearable to look at, whether I'm naked or nude."

"Stop saying naked!" she hissed at him. "Someone's going to hear you!" She didn't want to admit that he was driving her crazy, putting the mental image of a nude Lee Stetson in her head.

"Well, it still seems unfair to me," he said virtuously. "Me having seen you in all your glory and not the other way around." He shook his head in mock despair. "So unfair."

"Stop it!" she muttered again. "Why you of all people? Why couldn't you just have gone backpacking in Europe like a normal teenager?"

It was something about the way he laughed then, and the overly innocent look on his face that made her stop dead in her tracks. "Wait a minute," she said suspiciously. "You told me you did go backpacking after your first year at university!"

"Did I?" he asked, appearing to give that some thought.

"Yes you did!" she said accusingly. "You said you didn't want to go home and spend a miserable summer with your uncle so you went travelling instead!" Now she knew something was up, by the way he was unable to stop grinning. "You were never in New York, were you? You just made that whole thing up!"

"Did I?" he repeated.

"You know you did!" She gasped as she replayed their conversation in her head "You did that Jedi mind trick thing on me again, didn't you? Getting me to say when I was there and that I had a ponytail and then you just guessed about the flowers and the rest, didn't you?"

Lee nodded, unable to speak because he was laughing too hard, even when she put her hands on his chest and shoved him.

"I can't believe I fell for that!" she complained. "I can't believe you managed to convince me you could remember me from 20 years ago!" She stopped suddenly and stared at him narrowly. "Now wait just a gosh darn minute. How did you know about…" her voice trailed off, her hand moving unconsciously to rest on the back of her leg.

Lee didn't say a word, just crossed his arms and waited, breaking into a grin when he saw the realization dawn.

"Ooooh!" she squealed. "It's in my file! You just know that because it's in my file as a distinguishing mark!" She launched herself at him, pummelling him with her fists as he laughed and doubled over, trying to dodge her. "You big fat liar! You are so mean!"

Lee straightened and grabbed her wrists at last, pulling her to drop a kiss on her lips. She glared at him but put up no real resistance. "I still think you're cute," he murmured against her lips, "I wasn't lying about that." He could feel her lips twitching into an unwilling smile under his. He deepened the kiss, dropping her wrists so that he could wrap his arms around her. After a brief moment, she finally relaxed in his arms, returning the kiss before starting to shake with giggles.

"I still can't believe I fell for that," she said again.

"Well, we're even," Lee answered. "I still can't believe Mother of the Year 1985 was a naked chorus girl."

"I never was Mother of the Year, remember?" she said. "You ruined my chances by showing up at my house dressed as an exterminator during the judging!"

Lee chuckled and turned to start walking down the boardwalk again, Amanda tucked snugly under his arm. "And then you ruined my chances with that girl by showing up at my apartment with that amazing fudgy chocolate cake thing with the peanut butter in the frosting."

"Lee!" she laughed up at him. "You can remember every detail about the cake and you can't even remember that poor girl's name?"

"It was a really unforgettable cake," he said with a faraway look in his eye. "And she was a very forgettable girl." He kissed the top of Amanda's head and squeezed her close. "They were all very forgettable – that's why I had to keep black books. So I could tell them apart, I mean," he said, in a regretful tone. He looked down at Amanda, suddenly serious. "I'm glad you stuck around and put up with me back then."

"Ah well," she said, smiling lovingly up at him. "I thought you were pretty cute too."

Lee continued to hum happily as they walked, until they had reached the end of the path several minutes later and turned to start ambling back. "So what do you want to do next?" he asked. "We could go walk along on the sand, or go find a bite to eat or…" his voice trailed off.

Amanda looked up at him, already grinning from the note of mischief she could hear in his voice. "Or?" she responded.

He turned to pull her into his arms for a kiss, then murmured "Or… that offer to see me naked is still on the table."

"Oh my," she answered, eyes wide. "Well, I'm sure that's very _big_ of you, Mr. Stetson…" she paused to look him up and down and watched his eyes crinkle as he acknowledged the double entendre. "But an unnecessary one as it turns out."

"Unnecessary?" he asked in confusion.

"Oh yes. You see, I've already seen you naked," she nodded, only just barely hiding a smile.

"You have not!" he shot back. Something about her raised eyebrow and "oh yeah?" expression put him on guard. "Okay then, prove it – when have you seen me naked?"

"Well, not in person," Amanda admitted, "But there were those _other_ photos in the Francine Desmond files…" She glanced down his body as if she couldn't help herself

"What the hell?" he yelped. "Why does she have those?"

"Well, for blackmail of course," said Amanda reasonably. "Why else?"

"You're lying," he said, suddenly certain from the way she wouldn't quite meet his eyes. "You're making this up to get even for earlier."

"Oh no," she answered sweetly. "I've seen them. They're a bit shadowy, but you can still see your dimples." She moved her hands down his back until they rested on the curve of his buttocks. " _All_ your dimples," she added suggestively, squeezing gently.

"Oh my God," said Lee, wide-eyed. He knew what was listed in _his_ file and he knew _that_ wasn't in there.

"Yeah, you should probably be nicer to Francine," said Amanda cheerfully, turning to continue walking. "Goodness knows what else she has in that file."

Lee swallowed as he watched her walk away. "You're lying," he repeated, a note of hope in his voice.

Amanda turned to face him, walking backwards, now several feet away. "Of course I'm lying," she called, laughter lighting up her face. "The steno pool talks about your **_ass_** -ets all the time! But after that reaction, I can't wait to get home and see if Francine really does have photos like that!"

"Why, you little…" Lee growled and began to pace toward her like a lion. Amanda gave a shriek of laughter and turned, taking off down the boardwalk at not quite a flat out run. He paused to appreciate the view – and give her a head start – before taking off after her, catching her about fifty yards away and lifting her off her feet as he swooped. She wriggled and laughed in his arms in a futile and not-very-heartfelt attempt to escape until he set her back gently on her feet and spun her to face him.

"You are a - " he paused, squinting down at the laughing dark eyes that were gazing back up at him.

"A what?" she teased.

"A very beautiful woman," he finished, watching her face light up with pleasure and then pulling her closer, dipping his head to kiss her.

They parted, breathless and happy a few moments later, and turned in unison to walk back toward the centre of things, holding hands, but close enough for their arms and hips to brush against the other as they walked.

Lee turned to study her profile, watching her cheeks get pink as she became aware of his scrutiny, until she finally turned her head to smile at him.

"Having a good day?" he asked in a teasing tone.

"The best." Her smile got even brighter if that was possible. "Are you?"

"The very best," he answered contentedly.


End file.
